Olivia, my eldest daughter, caught measles when she was seven years old. As the illness took its usual course I can remember reading to her often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed about it. Then one morning, when she was well on the road to recovery, I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe-cleaners, and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fingers and her mind were not working together and she couldn't do anything.

"Are you feeling all right?" I asked her.

"I feel all sleepy, " she said.

In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours she was dead.

The measles had turned into a terrible thing called measles encephalitis and there was nothing the doctors could do to save her.

That was twenty-four years ago in 1962, but even now, if a child with measles happens to develop the same deadly reaction from measles as Olivia did, there would still be nothing the doctors could do to help her.

On the other hand, there is today something that parents can do to make sure that this sort of tragedy does not happen to a child of theirs. They can insist that their child is immunised against measles. I was unable to do that for Olivia in 1962 because in those days a reliable measles vaccine had not been discovered. Today a good and safe vaccine is available to every family and all you have to do is to ask your doctor to administer it.

It is not yet generally accepted that measles can be a dangerous illness.

Believe me, it is. In my opinion parents who now refuse to have their children immunised are putting the lives of those children at risk.

In America, where measles immunisation is compulsory, measles like smallpox, has been virtually wiped out.

Here in Britain, because so many parents refuse, either out of obstinacy or ignorance or fear, to allow their children to be immunised, we still have a hundred thousand cases of measles every year.

Out of those, more than 10,000 will suffer side effects of one kind or another.

At least 10,000 will develop ear or chest infections.

About 20 will die.

LET THAT SINK IN.

Every year around 20 children will die in Britain from measles.

So what about the risks that your children will run from being immunised?

They are almost non-existent. Listen to this. In a district of around 300,000 people, there will be only one child every 250 years who will develop serious side effects from measles immunisation! That is about a million to one chance. I should think there would be more chance of your child choking to death on a chocolate bar than of becoming seriously ill from a measles immunisation.

Albert911emt:You trolling? Vaccinations have saved many millions of lives over the last 30-40 years. It's been proven. It's called......wait for it.......SCIENCE.

Have you never heard the glory of the Babyquarium? Once upon a time on FARK, someone decided to attention whore in a thread about the Duggars losing their 20th child during gestation, and post a picture of the cremains of their still-born fetus inside of a fish tank diorama. Quin was his name. Apparently, they thought it was a good idea to turn their baby boy into a piano decoration of questionable taste.

What ensured was no less than the greatest amount of attention-whoring that FARK had seen since FLYNAVY. The poster ended up being ridiculed off of FARK because of his AWing.

ChipNASA:God forbid any of you ever have to live through something of this nature. I hope you never have to answer the phone and hear your inconsolably weeping wife on the other end of the line as she mutters the only words she is able to muster "they cant find a heartbeat".

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This is Quinn's remains. He sits atop my piano. He was KILLED by vaccinations that the government forced on us. If it weren't for Obama and his healthcare reform, NONE of this would have happened. Now it's apparent that Obama's reach is lengthening to our allies and I'm afraid this is the start of the first indications of the New World Order.

I live with my mom. A good troll has to be just forgettable enough that you can't be caught repeating yourself.